Glowing avalanches from Merapi’s lava dome on the evening of 5 Jan 2021 (image: Yohannes Tyas Galih Jati / facebook)
The eruptive activity has increased at the volcano and is becoming more and more dangerous. This had also been expected from the recent increase in volcanic earthquakes.
During the past 48 hours, the lava dome in the summit crater produced a series of glowing avalanches from its flanks, sign that new magma is arriving into the dome, causing it to grow.
The lava dome’s rims are now almost touching the breach in the crater, which means that very soon it could generate very dangerous glowing avalanches (hot pyroclastic flows) onto the outer slopes of the volcano.